One of the top-ranking figures in the Israeli coalition government, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett, has once again underscored just how divided the coalition is on the peace process by declaring talks “pointless” and the notion of a two-state solution “dead.”
Bennett, who has repeatedly insisted that God gave the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to Israel to rule, insisted that there was “no occupation” because the territory is eternally Israeli, demanding a full-scale annexation of the West Bank. The annexation plan is a key aspect of Bennett’s Jewish Home’s platform.
Bennett went on to say it was time for Israelis to “live with” the reality that there will never be a Palestinian state, and focus instead of dramatically expanding settlements so there can never be a dispute of who controls the land.
The statements were quickly disavowed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but they come only a week after a row with the Deputy Defense Minister, a top figure of Netanyahu’s own Likud Party, saying basically the same thing.
The statement was condemned by Science Minister Jacob Perry of Yesh Atid, who said that the two-state solution was the only thing that could save Israel from the horrors of a “bi-national” state in which Arabs enjoy political equality as well as numerical superiority.
The narrow coalition government is split on a lot of issues, but none so much as the peace process, and this could be the one that ultimately tears them apart and forces an early election.
plz try another headline
handsome man confidently declares narcissistic theft of others assets. Yeah, and thanks beacuse really no one cares what bennett says; the dispossessed will now be so demoralized, they will take their morsel and beg for a UN resolution. Tough luck. Expect a showdown with mass evacuation of failed colonialists.
If the Christian and Arab indigenous residents of the West Bank and Gaza are living in Israel then they must immediately be given full rights of citizenship without preconditions and new elections must be held to establish the legitimacy of the government which by their exclusion from the previous election renders the present regime illegitimate. While it can be argued that a nation's form of government is not a suicide pact, no nation, no people has the right of Genocide against another people which is the essence of what the Racist Bennett posits. Full rights to Christians and Muslims now.
Do not believe for one minute that the elites of Israel will ever allow the Arab "citizens" to get anywhere near majority. Why do you think the Israelis have been scarfing up all that land and pushing the Arabs/Palestinians out? The Israelis know that with an expanding Arab population, in short order the Arabs will outnumber the Jewish population. That might lead, if the Arabs have full citizenship rights, such as voting, to a majority Arab Knesset. Now, I'm pretty sure that to ensure it never happening the Israelis are going to need to one of 2 things: create a 2 state solution (not likely) or eliminate (or greatly reduce the number) the Arabs. Sounds to me that that is the real plan – one which Netanyahoo is loath to discuss publicly. But, that's just this old Curmudgeon's opinion…
I was trying to make a moral and logical point. I have no illusions about the Racist nature of the zionist enterprise and concur with your observations..
"Christian and Arab"
The Christians in Palestine are Arab. Why do people think there are no such things as Christian Arabs?
It's worth listening to people like Bennett, waiting for that next shoe to drop. The next shoe is this: these people aren't ignorant of the numbers issue; they do have a plan. It's just that the plan has been, to this point, unspoken. The plan is transfer. The Arabs who flooded into the empty West Bank after the Israeli settlement of Israel have to go back to their real homeland: Jordan.
There's no question of giving these people rights. They are foreigners, and should just go home.
That's the line that we will hear. Netanyahu's only objection to this policy is that he knows it will mean absolute catastrophe for Israel's relations with the rest of the world. So although it's his policy too, he'll disavow it.
It's worth paying attention, waiting for the day that these people cross this very important line, the day when they are confident enough to openly admit the true nature of the project.
Looks like Israel plans to go where even the old Union of South Africa hesitated to go. It is certainly distracting to have people like John Hagee, Linsey Graham and John McCain constantly kissing their feet, because, otherwise, they would realize how evil the sane majority of the World considers them.